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LGD: Phil!

It’s not the first time the Toronto Maple Leafs have seen Phil Kessel in a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey, but it will be the first time Leafs fans see their former star winger suit up against them in Toronto. On Hockey Night in Canada, no less.

And apparently, there isn’t expected to be any warm welcomes. Kessel himself says he expects to hear some boos while the Leafs organization has no plans to honour his return. It’s a very weird situation, considering Kessel was very much the best player the Leafs had since Mats Sundin left for Vancouver and wasn’t universally loved, but still very much liked.

Besides the drama surrounding Kessel’s return, though, there’s still hockey to be played. The Penguins got off to an uncharacteristically slow start this year with three straight losses, but have since gone 6-1 and will look to continue their climb up the Eastern Conference standings. The Leafs, on the other hand, have a single win on the season.

Yeah, this should be fun.

The Leafs

We’re likely looking at the same lineup Toronto had last night in New York. That means Leo Komarov is a first line forward. This is a scary-bad lineup just in time for Halloween!

The Penguins

You’ll see Phil Kessel on the Penguins’ “second” line with Perron and Malkin. That’s terrifying. I’m assuming he’s there because nobody can actually play well with Sidney Crosby, they can only hope to keep up (or stay out of his way altogether).

9 Comments |

forget the leafs. i’ll give phil the standing ovation he deserves from my livingroom and cheer as he lights us up tonight. score a hatty against the leafs as a tribute to the media and the stupid fans who hate him for no reason. the rest of us will cheer in your honour.

Jay I hope you didn’t develop hemorrhoids stuck to your couch from watching Phil float all night with his one shot on goal. Then there was that classic flailing of his stick as the Penguins were trapped in their own zone. Classic non defence from the man who never has and never will be committed to playing a 200 foot game.

Why would you on the one hand hope for a win and on the other hand figure you will get a top three pick which Chychrun will indeed be. Sorry Seer you can’t have it both ways. I’m delighted that the leafs are losing and losing and losing as it gurantees that top three pick. Get with the game plan buddy.

Definitely will be cheering on Kessel tonight. It’s hard not to, he was the backbone of this team and even under media-scrutiny he put up amazing numbers (not considering last-season). It’s hard to believe the Leafs organization isn’t going to be honouring him in anyway.

Perhaps you other commenters are quicker to forgive that I am. Imagine if he arrived at a single leaf camp in the same shape he did this year for Pittsburgh? I always appreciated his skill set however he is a floater and you can’t build a championship with floaters as your core pieces.
For those who talk about him never missing a game, if there is no body contact, your only injury might be a cardboard cut opening your box of crispy creme donuts.
Seer, if you included every hit Kessel dished out in his career, would your video montage last a minute?

Harte you nailed it in your posting. Sadly what Kessel and his fan club will never get is the reason that our solid new management moved him out of town. He never committed to playing a 200 foot game. There is no way Shanahan or Babcock want this type of player on a rebuilding team.

Who could forget Kessel’s state of union address before the season started last year in which he informed his teammates, the media and the oh so loyal leaf fans that Randy Carlyle had given him a long leash. Translated he simply informed everyone that he could float all game and he just didn’t give a damm or did some of you miss his lame defensive play tonight.